External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the international system is moving towards a multipolar world, with countries increasingly maintaining relationships with multiple powers rather than limiting themselves to a single strategic partnership. Speaking at an Asia Society event in New York on Monday, Jaishankar said the earlier expectation in the United States that India should limit its options had given way to a situation in which countries were openly engaging with one another across different geopolitical groupings.

“There was once a narrative in America that we don’t like India having too many options. We want you to focus on your relationship with us even though America kept its options open,” Jaishankar said. He added that this approach had changed and that “everybody is openly dealing with everybody else”. According to the minister, this growing pattern of countries maintaining multiple relationships is part of the broader movement towards a multipolar global order.

Jaishankar was speaking alongside Daniel Russel, a former US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. During the discussion, he also said the United States was now following an approach that India had practised for years through what New Delhi describes as strategic autonomy. He pointed to Washington's simultaneous engagement with China, Russia, Ukraine, countries in Asia and Europe as an example of managing several relationships according to different interests.

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The remarks come as countries navigate a period of heightened geopolitical tensions, conflicts and competition over trade, technology, energy and strategic influence. Jaishankar has also recently described the global environment as one in which finance, market access, supply chains, technology and resources are increasingly being used as forms of leverage. At the UN General Assembly, he called for greater stability and reforms to international institutions as the post-1945 global order adjusts to changing realities.

Jaishankar has previously argued that countries should not be forced into binary choices as global power relationships evolve. In a series of meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, he said countries would continue making choices based on their interests, values and trust, while stressing the importance of the Global South having a greater voice in international decision-making. The comments form part of India's broader emphasis on maintaining partnerships across different regions while retaining room for independent foreign-policy decisions.

During the Asia Society discussion, Russel referred to the traditional American expression about managing multiple priorities while discussing India's foreign-policy approach. Jaishankar responded that the United States was now handling a similarly diverse set of international relationships. His comments in New York therefore placed India's long-standing emphasis on strategic autonomy within a wider shift in global diplomacy, where major and middle powers are increasingly engaging with multiple countries simultaneously as the international system becomes more fragmented and multipolar.

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